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MSHA chief Joe Main said a drop in the number of coal mines played a role in the record-low number of mining deaths.

Coal companies have shuttered hundreds of mines in Eastern Kentucky and other areas of Central Appalachia because of competition from relatively cheap natural gas, tougher federal rules to protect air quality and other factors.

The number of miners working in Eastern Kentucky has dropped by more than half since early 2012.

But Main said enforcement and training by MSHA and actions by the mining industry to improve safety also have been key factors in reducing deaths.

Among other things, MSHA began a program of special “impact” inspections in 2010 to try to prod improved safety at mines with problems such as a record of compliance violations. The agency also stepped up enforcement and outreach to non-coal mines after deaths at three different mines in one day last August, according to the news release.

There were no more fatalities at non-coal mines in the next 134 days, passing the prior record of 82 days without a death in that sector, according to MSHA.

“While record-low numbers have been achieved, we are mindful that things could change in a heartbeat if we let down our guard,” Main said. “There is still much more to be done to ensure that miners go home after every shift, safe and healthy.”

The first coal mine death in Kentucky last year happened in May, when 45-year-old Roy Mullins was crushed as he attempted to hook a road grader to a tractor-trailer to tow it at an Apex Energy surface mine in Pike County. The brakes on the grader failed and it rolled back, pinning Mullins between the machines.

The other coal death happened in September at an underground mine in Webster County controlled by Alliance Resource Partners LP. Electrician Rickey Thorpe, 29, was killed when a heavy piece of equipment he was repairing fell and crushed him, according to MSHA.